Should you build a stock image library for personal use?
When anyone mentions the term stock photography, the first thing that pops to mind is putting your images I put a website for somebody to buy. What I am going to suggest to you today, is building a stock library of images not for you to sell online to others, but for you to use as your own personal pool of images.
Your first thought might be, why would I want to do that when I can just purchase images from existing stock libraries or download them for free from certain sites on the Internet?
Both of those points are valid but there are some things that you need to consider when using stock images from other photographers that can be not only costly but also illegal.
In this article, I am going to share with you three points why I think you should consider creating your own stock library for personal use.
Reason 1
Stock images can be expensive. Yes, there are affordable stock image libraries around but you will notice that the quality of the work seems to match the price that goes along with it. Most people’s idea of an image stock library is actually a Micro-Stock library. Sites such as Shutterstock, iStockphoto, Getty Images, and Adobe Stock, are actually microstock image libraries. These refer to libraries that make images available to put in March anyone for a very affordable price as long as you commit to some sort of subscription program. If not, the price of the images jumps substantially. You can still find traditional stock image libraries that give you more flexibility with the licensing of the image. However, these are really expensive and out of reach for most people. In cases like this, you can expect to pay hundreds or thousands for the use of an image.
Having your own stock library means that you don’t have to pay anyone anything. One of the benefits that we have received in the last few years is the phone in your camera. This camera is no longer just a gimmick on your phone. Most modern phones can take exceptional images. Most often than not, the images produced by your phone a good enough to be able to use in your work. All it takes is a little discipline to remind yourself to take the photographs.
If you want to know how good your phone’s photos can be CLICK HERE
Reason 2
We’ve briefly touched on the drawback of microstock libraries, another drawback is that you’re usually not able to use those photographs as part of a different photograph that you are then going to sell on. Let’s say for example, that you are creating a composite photograph and you need a mountain for your background. If you used an image of a mountain from a microstock, you would not be able to then sell your composite. In order for you to be able to sell an image commercially, you need to have created or have ownership of all the components in that photo. This does not seem to be common knowledge around people that sell products with images and can lend you in a lot of trouble. Basically, you can’t sell other people’s work. This is where having your own stock library of images is really useful because you can be absolutely sure that you are not breaking any rules because all the components in your photograph were captured by you.
Reason 3
Stock photography is usually not the hero component of an image. Typically, it is a component that is used as part of the main image. Let’s take a look at an example. What are the common things that happen in commercial photography is the replacement of the sky in an image. It is rare for the sky to exactly what you need on the day of the shoot. Because of this, the sky is normally photographed separately and then photoshopped into the final image. If you start making a habit of photographing skies and adding them to your library, you will have a really good selection of images when it comes to putting your photograph together. Another example is when you need photographs that are not technically perfect. All you have to do is browse through any microstock library to see that all the images I was close to technically perfect as possible. Sometimes, this is not what we need. I’ve recently shot a bottle of gin where I needed a blurry background photograph of the bar. For inspiration, I reviewed some of the stock libraries for ideas on how to photograph a bar. The problem was that all the bars were in focus and what I needed was a technically incorrect photograph. That is, a blurry photograph. If you have ever submitted photographs to be sold on microstock sides, you will know, that they would never accept a blurry photograph. Yes, you could add a blur to the photograph in your post-production, but it would never look as real as starting with a blurry photograph. The photograph below is the image that was used in the end. I photographed this bar with my phone and it was good enough to be used in the final image.
So as you can see, I am a big fan of photographers creating their own stock library of images for their own use. At the end of the day, you are going to create the stock that you enjoy using in your images, and it’s most likely going to match your requirements. In a follow-up article, I will describe the process for storing and indexing these images to make them easy to find.
If you have any questions on anything discussed in this article, don’t hesitate to reach out by leaving a comment below. Otherwise, you can reach me on any of the usual social media platforms. You will find the links on the contact page.